PREMIERSHIP PREDICTIONS

“Correctly predicting Scotland to lose to Spain (not that hard really) & Wales to lose to Switzerland who had like them lost both their opening two games ”

Hello everyone. The last round of International fixtures saw me correctly predict 4 out of 9 results. I thought England would manage to break down Montenegro but alas they didn’t. Northern Ireland also let me down by failing to beat the Faroe Islands which doesn’t help their chances of qualifying. I have now predicted 9 out of 18 correct for the International games this season which is of course a 50% success rate.

Onto the Premiership & last time out a couple of weeks ago I correctly predicted 5 out of 10 which was a 100% improvement on the previous week. “My best prediction was Everton Winning at Birmingham especially as Everton had failed to win prior to the game & Birmingham had not lost at home since September of last season”. I also got the correct score for Chelsea beating Arsenal 2-0.

I didn’t include the Aston Villa Spurs game because I messed up & got the fixture the incorrect way around in that the game was played at Spurs & not Aston Villa as I previewed. Apologies. My editor punished me by giving me a free night out with Wayne Rooney & his wife plus the added bonus of a years subscription to “Hello” magazine. Bastard….

Match 1: Arsenal - Birmingham: (Saturday October 16th: 3pm):

Arsenal need to get back on track after two defeats on the trot. They lost their last game 2-0 at Chelsea (as I predicted) after they had rather surprisingly lost at home to WBA 3-2. Don’t let that scoreline deceive you , West Brom were 3-0 up until Arsenal got two late goals back.

Arsenal have now dropped to 4th in the table after those two defeats. They need obviously to get back to winning ways as do Birmingham who lost their unbeaten home record of 13 months standing to Everton last time out. Utter smugness prevents me from mentioning that I predicted their loss, err….

Birmingham have only won one game this season & that was at home to Blackburn. They have drawn a few however including away draws at Bolton & Sunderland. The problem for Birmingham is that I can’t remember the last time that Arsenal lost two League games on the trot at home & I can’t see Birmingham about to challenge that theory of mine.

Arsenal have beaten Bolton (4-1), Blackpool (6-0) in the league at home as well as Braga (6-0) in the champions league in their other home games so Birmingham have a stiff test in this game one that I can’t se them passing even though I think they will have a good go & might lose to a late goal(s).

Both sides are doing well at present. Bolton may have only won one game so far (3-1 at West Ham) but they have only lost one. They continued their drawing sequence with a 1-1 draw at WBA in their last game which was a good result considering WBA’s recent good form. Bolton have drawn all their home games so far with Fulham (0-0), Birmingham (2-2) & Manchester United (2-2) in their last game.

Stoke have of course picked up after a bad start in which they lost their first three games. Since losing at Chelsea they have beaten Aston Villa, Blackburn, Newcastle & drawn with West Ham. Their latest victory over Blackburn has lifted them to 7th in the table on 10 points.

This game then a fixture between two sides in form. Bolton have to win at home sooner or later & I can’t see why it shouldn’t be this game but it will be close I suspect. Last season this game was a 1-1 draw with Bolton grabbing a very late goal with a penalty which annoyed me somewhat as I had predicted an away win for Stoke. Let’s hope for better luck in my prediction this season.

Fulham like Bolton are the draw specialists of the Premiership this season. The difference between the two is that Fulham have yet to lose while Bolton have. Therefore Fulham along with Manchester United are the only two sides that are unbeaten since the start of the season.

Fulham won their last home game when they beat Wolves 2-0 (as I predicted) & will be hoping for revenge over Spurs for their FA Cup quarter final defeat to them last season.

Spurs have improved of late for as well as taking 4 points in their first two Champions League games they beat improved Aston Villa 2-1 at home to go up to 5th in the table & only behind their arch rivals Arsenal on goal difference.

Spurs have lost twice this season at West Ham & at home to Wigan. I think they are due another defeat & it will come in this game against Fulham who themselves are due a win for the way they are playing under Mark Hughes.

Manchester United should win this game against in form West Brom but you never know with the way results in the Premiership have been going this season.

West Brom of course won their last away game at Arsenal 3-2. This result has made a lot of people sit up & take note Albion, me included. On the other side of the coin to that great win at Arsenal Albion are the only side to lose to Liverpool this season but to be fair it was albinos third game of the season & they have since improved.

United have won all their home games so far in the League beating Newcastle (3-0), West Ham (4-1) & Liverpool (3-2). Their away form is what is holding them up at present as they have yet to gain three points away as they have drawn all their away games, the latest at Sunderland (0-0).

This dropping of points away from home means that United are third in the table behind leaders Chelsea & their nearest rivals Manchester City.

I think that United will win this game but it could be close & also because I can’t believe that a side like West Brom can go away to Arsenal & Manchester United in successive away games & gain six points.

Let’s be honest, Newcastle’s home form is crap. Since that fantastic first home win against Aston Villa when they thrashed them 6-0 they have lost at home to Blackpool & Stoke. These are games that I predicted them to win & typically I predicted them to lose to Aston Villa.

On the other side of the coin Newcastle’s away form is good with victory at Everton & a draw at Wolves. They lost at both Manchester clubs, the latest one being at Manchester City in a 2-1 defeat. These results leave Newcastle 16th in the table on seven points just one point above the drop zone, which more or less where I think they will finish this season. A complete lack of investment by the present owner Mike “I’m a twat” Ashley leaves them in a position of no ambition from anyone apart from the fans & judging by their dip in attendances in comparison with their last season in the Premiership it would appear that the fans are getting really pissed off.

Wigan have started to pull clear of the drop zone after a really bad start to the season & their last game which was a 2-0 win at home against Wolves has seen them go upto 14th above Newcastle.

Newcastle have to improve their home form & so for the third home game in a row I am going to predict that they will win at home. If this prediction does not come off I will subscribe to “The News of the World” as punishment, so come on Newcastle.

Wolves need a win & badly as they have not won since the opening day of the season when they beat Stoke 2-1. They have drawn twice since then, away at Everton & at home with Newcastle, both 1-1.

They have now lost 4 games on the bounce, the latest being a 2-0 defeat at Wigan. Obviously these defeats have seem them slide down the table into the bottom three in 19th place. The good news is that one or two wins will see them climb out.

They now face a West Ham side who are the only side keeping them off the bottom of the table as they are behind Wolves but only on goal difference. A crunch early season relegation battle then.

West Ham drew at home with Fulham last time out but then again so has everybody else. I predicted at the start of the season that West Ham would go down & Wolves stay up so on that basis I am going to go for a Wolves win as despite their position their home form is not bad.

Aston Villa will be pissed off they lost at Spurs last week after they went in 1-0 up at half time. Their mini rival therefore came to an end with defeat.

They now face probably the hardest test so far of their season with a home game against champions & league leaders Chelsea who have only lost the one game so far & that was in their last away game when they lost 1-0 at Manchester City. Chelsea have won all their other games so far including their last game which was a very good 2-0 home win over Arsenal.

Villa are unbeaten in the League at home with victories against West Ham, Everton & a draw with Bolton in their last home game. They did however lose at home in Europe to go out early in the UEFA Cup.

I really can’t see Chelsea losing two away games on the trot away from home & Villa appear to be in transition since Martin O’Neil has left.

An away victory for Chelsea then on a ground they have not feared too well on in recent years which was proved when they lost 2-1 last season.

This is a great fixture, not just generally but this season as well when you look at the position of the two clubs in the table.

To me Everton are in slightly better form especially after they won their first game of the season against Birmingham away two weeks ago which ended Birmingham’s thirteen month unbeaten home record. Liverpool of course lost at home to Blackpool. That result means that Liverpool are in the bottom three for the first time since the titanic sunk. Everton are above them but only on goal difference.

Liverpool won a very important victory on Wednesday when the courts decided that their American owners had to obey the wishes of their board & sell the club. How long before that matter is sorted out only time will tell but in the meantime they are in the shit on the field as a legacy of their owners & their previous managers bad signings.

I can’t believe that Liverpool or Everton will go down but from what I have seen & read in reports Everton are playing better than Liverpool so far this Eason & with the monkey off their back in a great away victory last time out I think they will win this game.

One thing is for sure & that is that Liverpool won’t be playing in the Champions league again next season.

Blackpool had a great 2-1 win at Anfield against Liverpool last time out. Despite this I still think they will go down come the end of the season which of course will be a shame for them & football in generally.

That win at Liverpool was Blackpool’s third win this season but all of them have been away at Newcastle, Wigan & of course Liverpool. They have only managed one point at home & that was against Fulham, the other home game they lost to Blackburn which could be viewed a three very important points come the end of the season.

City are second in the table above their neighbours Manchester United which will please their fans. They have now won three games on the trot in the league. They beat Chelsea & then won at Wigan which was the game before they beat Newcastle in their last game.

City may be out of the League cup but they are more concerned I think with finishing 4th come the end of the season which I think they will manage. Can’t see Blackpool being good enough to hold City in this game but they will put up a great effort.

Blackburn lost for the first time in three away games when they went down 1-0 at Stoke in their last game. They had managed to win at Blackpool & more impressively draw at Manchester City before that. In their last home game they could only draw with draw specialists Fulham 1-1 despite taking the lead.

Both sides should stay up this season & I predict Sunderland to finish higher. Sunderland drew at home with Manchester United last time out to remain unbeaten at home. Their away form which was crap last season is slowly showing signs of improving as they have drawn their last two away games at Wigan (1-1) & last time out away 2-2 at Liverpool when they were pegged back twice. As Blackpool won their the following weekend they will be slightly shoved off that they didn’t hang on for the win.

Last season Sunderland drew this game 2-2 to get a rare away point & this time I am going to go for them to go one better & get all three points as their away form is improving.